Widespread occurrence of XXY females in Drosophila mojavensis and related species
- 1Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Abstract
Bridges first reported that XXY individuals are fertile females in Drosophila melanogaster, arising at low frequency (~1/2000) through errors in chromosome segregation (BRIDGES 1914; BRIDGES 1916). Although widely used in genetic studies, XXY females are seldom found in wild-type strains or natural populations, presumably because natural selection keeps them at very low frequency. Here we show that many wild-type strains of D. mojavensis and its close relatives D. arizonae, D. navojoa, and D. wheeleri carry XXY and XXYY females at frequencies of up to 88%; males from these strains are frequently XYY or XYYY. Although field collections were hampered by population declines and safety concerns, we found one XXY female (out of 87) and one XYY male (out of 36) in a natural population of D. mojavensis, indicating that these genotypes also occur at appreciable frequencies in nature. XXY females are expected to produce XY-bearing and X-bearing eggs in equal proportions; instead, we found a 57:43 ratio. Mathematical modeling shows that this meiotic-drive advantage is sufficient to explain high frequencies of XXY females. It is universally accepted that Y evolution responds exclusively to male selection, yet in XXY-bearing species it also responds to female fitness.
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BibTeX
@misc{vanderlinde2026widespread,
title = {{Widespread occurrence of XXY females in Drosophila mojavensis and related species}},
author = {T. Vanderlinde and F. Uno and M. Leite and H. Bonilla and M. D. Vibranovski and J. Kennison and T. A. Markow and A. B. Carvalho},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.21.760257},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760257v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Widespread occurrence of XXY females in Drosophila mojavensis and related species
AU - T. Vanderlinde
AU - F. Uno
AU - M. Leite
AU - H. Bonilla
AU - M. D. Vibranovski
AU - J. Kennison
AU - T. A. Markow
AU - A. B. Carvalho
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.21.760257
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760257v1
AB - Bridges first reported that XXY individuals are fertile females in Drosophila melanogaster, arising at low frequency (~1/2000) through errors in chromosome segregation (BRIDGES 1914; BRIDGES 1916). Although widely used in genetic studies, XXY females are seldom found in wild-type strains or natural populations, presumably because natural selection keeps them at very low frequency. Here we show that many wild-type strains of D. mojavensis and its close relatives D. arizonae, D. navojoa, and D. wheeleri carry XXY and XXYY females at frequencies of up to 88%; males from these strains are frequently XYY or XYYY. Although field collections were hampered by population declines and safety concerns, we found one XXY female (out of 87) and one XYY male (out of 36) in a natural population of D. mojavensis, indicating that these genotypes also occur at appreciable frequencies in nature. XXY females are expected to produce XY-bearing and X-bearing eggs in equal proportions; instead, we found a 57:43 ratio. Mathematical modeling shows that this meiotic-drive advantage is sufficient to explain high frequencies of XXY females. It is universally accepted that Y evolution responds exclusively to male selection, yet in XXY-bearing species it also responds to female fitness.
ER -